Pressure, to me, was creating a 'Star Wars' film, then sitting alone in a theater with George Lucas and showing it to him, the guy that created the word 'Wookiee' and R2-D2. That was pressure.
I think why people relate to 'Star Wars' is George Lucas is so brilliant at telling these stories that we relate to, but in such a fantastic environment with fantastic characters and things you want to believe in this story.
Lucasfilm called me out of the blue, and I almost hung up because I thought it was a practical joke. This was right before 'Revenge Of The Sith' came out. Here you are, a big 'Star Wars' fan, talking about 'Star Wars' all the time, and you have your master replica lightsaber, and then you get a call from Lucasfilm for a job?
You know, 'Star Wars' - even when it gets dark, it comes back to the light - it makes you feel good. I think families enjoy watching it and sharing in it.
'The Clone Wars' is certainly set in the darkest possible time throughout the whole 'Star Wars' story.
I think, sometimes with fans, what a lot of studios miss is it's just the gesture: it's the idea of knowing that they do matter, that we do care about what they think.
Just getting to meet George Lucas was pretty amazing, and then working with him and getting to be part of this process... it's a great responsibility.
I think what we find, especially with the kids that grew up with 'Clone Wars,' when they're of the age where they're like, 'I want to revisit that stuff,' who knows what format they're going to watch it on.
There were a lot of great memories around 'Star Wars.' It was a foundation - probably for my interest in movies.
Projects you think are no-brainers stall, and other things see the light of day. You never count anything out.
As the director, to have the opportunity to work with actors of the calibre of David Oyelewo is just fantastic and special.
When you're afraid, you look to amass power to defend yourself, not realizing that can also be corrupting.
All animation is a tremendous amount of work, but when you put 'Star Wars' on the top of something, there's already this bar that people are going to put on it.
You read in any war stories - World War II, whatever - that there are many, many heroes. There are the main stories you always hear about, but there are all these other little people that did things that were very important that we don't always know about.
Frankly, it was only after 'Clone Wars' got cancelled that there seemed to be this universal love-fest from fans.
I think that everyone would agree that something that Marvel has done brilliantly is weave comedy into all of their action movies.
I've worked hard, for sure, but like anything, it takes a lot of luck and being in the right place at the right time, and then making the most of the opportunity.
I've been very fortunate in animation - when I get on a project, people tend to keep me, so I have long stays of work rather than bouncing around.
Every 'Star Wars' film was about pushing what was possible in terms of effects, puppets, matte paintings, stop motion and, now, digitally.
My hope is that, in years to come, people will still be watching 'The Clone Wars,' and they'll still hold up. That's my goal - time tested.
It's a guilty pleasure that things I loved as a kid I now have the power to put into motion and up on screen.
I have an amazing education through my wife on female fans and perspectives on it. Things that I never would have thought of.
The best compliment we ever got on 'Clone Wars' was a parent coming up and telling me that it was something they could watch with their kids. I really love that.
The look of 'Rebels' is based much more on the classic 'Star Wars' trilogy, where the 'The Clone Wars' was a prequel era series.
'The Clone Wars' got very dark as we headed towards the end of the war and the downfall of the Jedi.
I always get worried about disrupting continuity. I seem to get blamed for that a lot.Collection: Worried
Doing the right thing at all costs is an absolute, and only a sith deals in absolutes.Collection: Cost